Can't learn the last Bend Will shout

Question

When I finished the quest The Fate of the Skaal, it asked me to "unlock your Bend Will shout." However, when I finished my quest, I didn't learn the last word I need. The only thing I can think of is that all of my spaces have been taken over with force instead of earth or wind or whatever it usually has. Does anyone know what I can do that will help me learn the last word that I require in the game?

Answer 1

First, make sure it's really broken.

Here is what is supposed to happen:

1. You give the book to Storn.
2. He reads it and Hermaeus Mora kills him after a brief conversation.
3. Hermaeus Mora praises you for doing as you were told, tells you he is giving you the word, and then leaves.
4. You learn the word. It appears in your Shouts menu but is grayed out.
5. The Gardener of Men quest is completed. At the Summit of Apocrypha quest begins.
6. You spend a dragon soul to unlock the word (just like every shout except Unrelenting Force, Clear Skies and the first word of Whirlwind Sprint).
7. (Quest continues from here...)

It sounds like #4 never happened. Double-check that:

• The Bend Will shout only has the first two words listed. If it has all three, and the third is grayed out, you will need to spend a dragon soul on it (which may require killing one or more dragons if you ran out of souls) to complete step #6 and advance the quest.
• The Gardener of Men is complete in your journal. If it is not complete, you may need to go back to Skaal Village and listen to Hermaeus Mora to complete step #3.

If it's really broken, you can fix it with the console, but only if you're playing on PC.

The default key to bring up the console is `. If your load order is the same as mine, you'll use this command:

player.teachword 040179db

The leading 04 may need to be changed if your load order is different from mine. To discover the correct digits to use, click on any object or NPC in Solstheim and note the leading two digits of the number displayed, or consult your mod manager if you use one.

If you are not playing on a PC, you may have to load a save and try again.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to manually teach words on consoles, so you'll just have to try the quest a second time.